How to Reduce Operational Costs and get a Superior Maintenance Cleaning Result

When you need to remove contaminants, grime, production by-product, old coatings etc from a surface on a large scale, there are many solutions – and many problems getting a cost effective and superior result.

Are you looking for a maintenance cleaning process for your plant and equipment that will cut downtime and free up maintenance staff?

Cleaning with dry ice will not wear tooling, texture surfaces, open tolerances, or damage bearings or machinery.

Minimal Surface Damage
Dry ice cleaning can be adjusted for the surface that is being cleaned, from hard baked deposit removal to delicate cleaning of wood and paper.

Dry and non conductive
Dry ice cleaning is a dry process will not damage electrical wiring, motors, controls or switches—in some situations it is possible to clean while power remains on.
Rust formation after cleaning is far less likely with dry ice cleaning than with steam or water blasting.

Non Toxic
Carbon dioxide is a nontoxic element. By replacing toxic chemical processes with dry ice blasting systems, exposure and disposal issues stemming from the use of dangerous chemical cleaning agents can be materially reduced or eliminated completely. Similarly, problems with runoff and disposal of contaminated cleaning media are also removed

How dry Ice Blasting Works
Dry ice blasting is similar in principle to sand blasting using high-density carbon dioxide (dry ice) pellets, propelled onto a surface using compressed air.
It removes contaminants quickly, without leaving cleaning media (e.g. water, sand, chemicals), without any abrasive damage to surfaces, and is dry and safe around electrical equipment.

The cleaning process occurs through the combination of three different effects:Kinetic Energy is transferred by the accelerated dry ice pellet as it hits the surface during the dry ice cleaning process. The dry ice pellet sublimates upon impact and is softer compared to other cleaning media such as sand, grit, or beads.

Thermal-Shock Effect occurs when cold dry ice pellets (-79 degrees C) strike a much warmer, contaminated surface. The extremely cold temperature of the dry ice causes the bond to weaken between the surface being cleaned and dirt and residue on it.

Thermal-Kinetic Effect combines the impact of sublimation and the rapid heat transfer discussed above. When the dry ice pellet hits the contaminated surface, the vapour expands up to 800 times the volume of the pellet, and so fast that a micro-explosion occurs, taking off dirt and grime in the dry ice cleaning process.

Dry ice blasting in the New Zealand mediaDEMM Engineering & Manufacturing Magazine has a piece on dry ice blasting in their November 2012 issue (p34).